And on and on. If you only skimmed those headlines, you’d think that Beck went boldly into the belly of the beast, and had some kind of Sister Souljah moment.

Except Beck didn’t do that. He blew smoke up the CPAC audience’s white asses by simply reciting, verbatim, exactly the same tired spiel Republican leaders have been parroting nonstop since they lost control of Congress in 2006.

“I voted Republican almost every time,” he said, and “I don’t even know what they stand for anymore. And they’ve got to realize that they have a problem: ‘Hello, my name is the Republican Party, and I’ve got a problem. I’m addicted to spending and big government.‘”

So Republicans are losing elections because they’re insufficiently conservative. Never heard that before!

The leaders asked the caucus why we thought we’d lost our majority. Was it the war in Iraq? About a third of the hands went up. Was it corruption? About a dozen hands. Was it that we’d lost our way on spending and the need for small government?The majority of hands went up … The American people came to believe that we’re the party of Big Government. That’s why they threw us out.

Senator John McCain of Arizona acknowledged Monday that his fellow Republicans “forgot who we were” in recent years by spending too much, and said that as president he would rely on low taxes, greater fiscal restraint and free trade to lift the nation’s economy.

In recent years, these distinctions in philosophy became less clear — our party got away from its principles. You elected Republicans to champion limited government, fiscal discipline and personal responsibility. Instead, Republicans went along with earmarks and big government spending in Washington. Republicans lost your trust — and rightly so.

Ask yourself: is it possible to “scold” or “thump” someone when you’re lovingly reciting their talking points? Probably not.